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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26223682">I'd Dive Deeper For You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehufflepuffreference/pseuds/thehufflepuffreference'>thehufflepuffreference</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Write Me Like A Love Song [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Keith (Voltron), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe: Youtubers, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forming Friendships, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hunk (Voltron) Has Two Moms, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pre-Slash, Trans Keith (Voltron), YouTube, Youtuber AU, broganes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:21:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,931</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26223682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehufflepuffreference/pseuds/thehufflepuffreference</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that he doesn’t think Lance hates him, Keith is far more willing to open up to others in the group. A story told in five parts: As Keith bonds with his Voltron housemates, and they all grow closer together as a result.</p><p>(Won't entirely make sense without reading parts 1-3, 5&amp;6, but if you just want the feels and not the context, you can still have them!)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alfor &amp; Allura (Voltron), Allura &amp; Keith (Voltron), Hunk &amp; Hunk's Parents (Voltron), Hunk &amp; Keith (Voltron), Keith &amp; Keith's Father (Voltron), Keith &amp; Lance (Voltron), Keith &amp; Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith &amp; Shiro (Voltron), Keith &amp; Voltron Paladins, Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Write Me Like A Love Song [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1317266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I Could Use a Stunt Double</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This takes place after the events in How to Write a Rivalry. A couple more parts and then we finally start getting a little more Klance. I'm posting pretty much every chapter at once, and just breaking it up so it flows better. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> The first prank Lance pulls on Keith catches him entirely unawares. It starts like this: One day Keith walks into the kitchen after his classes and sees Lance sitting, innocently at the counter, eating cereal out of the box. He inclines his chin at Keith to greet him, and goes back to reading something on his phone. Keith looks down at his outfit, frowns, and looks back at Lance. They’re wearing exactly the same outfit. Keith narrows his eyes at Lance, as the basketball shorts, band-related tanktop, and cross training sneaker combo was definitely not a Lance-approved outfit the last time he saw the guy, but who is Keith to judge? He shrugs it off and continues his day.</p><p> The next day, Lance comes to find him in the shop. He’s filming a vlog, as usual if he’s visiting Keith there, and Keith barely looks up from his work, just acknowledging Lance’s story when there are gaps requiring a response. When he does look at Lance, however, he can tell that his face fully conveys his confusion, because Lance pauses long enough for Keith to notice. Keith meets his eyes, and sees that Lance has his eyebrows raised in a silent question. Keith shrugs it off and prompts Lance to continue. Lance’s outfit matches Keith’s today as well, a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans with Doc Martens — definitely, definitely not a lance-approved outfit. Keith’s a little suspicious, but he doesn’t know of what, so he lets it slide yet again. </p><p>After the next three days come and Lance draws Keith’s attention to his outfit day after day, and day after day it is an exact replica of Keith’s, he knows something’s got to be going on, but he’s brought it up to Shiro, Hunk, Allura, even Kolivan, to see if anyone else noticed something weird going on. Everyone said that they’d noticed nothing strange, and Allura even procured pictures she and Lance had taken, one dated for each day of the week, at different times even, that showed Lance in his normal outfits that ranged from Frathouse Fuqboi, to Surfer, to Instagram Influencer. Keith was beyond confused. </p><p> It all comes to a head, however, on Friday night, during their family dinner. Today, Lance is wearing skinny jeans that are ripped in the exact same places as Keith’s, which wouldn’t be entirely weird except Keith didn’t buy the jeans pre-ripped. The rip on the thigh was from snagging on a piece of equipment in the shop a couple months before, and the rip on the left knee was from tripping on stairs and falling on concrete when he was looking at pictures of puppies. So for Lance’s jeans to be ripped in the same way was beyond bizarre. And the piece-de-resistance was that Lance was wearing. Keith’s. Fingerless. Gloves. Only, they weren’t Keith’s, because Keith was wearing his own gloves! And nobody was acknowledging how strange this all was! Everyday for almost a whole week Lance was dressing exactly like Keith and no one else thought it was weird?! That in itself was strange!</p><p> “Okay, hold up.” Keith cut Shiro off mid-sentence.</p><p> “Hey!” Shiro protested, but Keith raised a hand at him, standing up and pointing a finger at Lance. </p><p> “What are you doing?” Lance was the picture of innocence, sitting there, in Keith’s clothes, wide eyed  and mouth in a little ‘o’. </p><p> “What do you mean? I’m eating!” Lance’s face changes to exasperation as he gestures to his meal, “We’re all eating, and listening to Shiro’s story! Except you, apparently.” Lance narrows his eyes at Keith, who is sure he’s starting to look a little manic by now. </p><p> “Not! Not doing anything?! You’re dressed exactly like me!” Keith looks around the table, hoping someone will finally back him up, now that the proof is directly in front of them. “Come on, guys! You can’t deny it now, he’s...he’s wearing the gloves!” </p><p> “You don’t have a monopoly on gloves, Keith. Lance can want some hand protection, too.” Pidge points out, not looking up from her dinner and her phone. </p><p> Shiro reaches out to place the back of his left hand against Keith’s forehead as if checking for fever, “Are you feeling alright, Buddy?” Keith slaps his hand away. </p><p> “You’re kidding me. You’re all kidding. He’s been doing it all week!” No response except raised eyebrows from the group. “Alright, fine. I have proof.” Keith pulls out his laptop where he’s been compiling data. He’s inconspicuously taken a picture of Lance’s outfit every day since the first and put it next to a picture of himself that day. All the outfits are the same. “You’re really going to look at this and you’re going to tell me that I’m wrong?” Keith gestures to the evidence laid out before them. </p><p> The snickering starts with Pidge, but it quickly spreads to Hunk, Shiro, and Allura. Only Lance is left not laughing. He’s staring at Keith with a faint blush and wide eyes. Huffing a small chuckle he raises both hands in supplication, “Alright, buddy, you’ve got me. I was doing it on purpose. I had no idea you’d care enough to prove it, though. That’s dedication.” </p><p> Keith is flabbergasted. “What do you mean?” </p><p> “I was matching you on purpose. To see what you’d do. I didn’t know you’d go all sneaky and prove that I was, I don’t know, trying to steal your identity or something.” Lance was trying to look serious, and offended, but Keith could see the teasing glint in his eye, see the hint of a smirk, and hear the lilt of a laugh. </p><p> “This was just a prank?” It sounds like Keith is rebooting. He has to reevaluate the whole week. Of course Lance wasn’t going around the entire day dressed like Keith. Someone definitely would’ve said something, or at least agreed when he’d tried to point it out to them. But, that Lance took the time and effort to get clothes that would match Keith’s, find out what he was wearing each day, and then find him to get his reaction. Well, it was definitely something. Keith starts chuckling, which turns into side splitting laughter, one hand over his face, the other braced on the table. He hears Lance join in, and the others start laughing again. Unbeknownst to Keith, Shiro and Lance had recently gone shopping, and purchased at least a week’s worth of clothes that were identical to those in Keith’s closet. Hunk and Pidge had done recon to let Lance both change without getting caught, and find Keith to get his reaction. Most days Allura was hiding nearby with the camera to get the first look. </p><p> “I thought it would be a funny way to start the rivalry. But now I don’t know who won because I think we both surprised each other!” Lance says between bouts of laughter. Keith heartily agrees. </p><p> The good-natured rivalry between Keith and Lance improves their relationships with everyone. Suddenly the rest of the group isn’t forced to watch borderline hostile bickering and veiled attacks between the two, and this allows them all to grow closer to each other. It also allows Keith to begin trusting his housemates, to begin opening up to them. He’s had friends before, but it strikes him one day as he’s drinking coffee in the kitchen and watching Hunk fail to teach Shiro and Pidge to make French toast that he’s never had this kind of friendship with anyone <i> but </i> Shiro, who almost doesn’t count because they’re actually, and legally, brothers. Keith tries to hide his smile behind his coffee cup, but Lance catches him in the background of the vlog he’s filming of the experience and teases Keith about it, which leads to them play-slapping at each other, and everyone in the kitchen laughs. The room filled with warmth from the late-morning sun, and the joys of friendship. Keith’s heart feels like it’s glowing. It continues like this... </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Tonight I Find a Better Peace of Mind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Allura and Keith have a bonding moment</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Allura walks into the lounge one day to find Keith sitting in an armchair facing a window, his knees pulled up to his chest, gazing out onto campus with red-rimmed eyes. She and Keith had never <i> not </i> gotten along, per-say, but in the six months they’d lived together, they hadn’t exactly formed a close bond. Because of this, she was unsure how she should address this situation. Her instincts were torn between offering comfort to a friend, and tip-toeing out of the room before Keith noticed her so that she could leave him in peace, as he obviously wanted to be.</p>
<p> Her struggle is cut short when Keith says, his voice small and rough, “You don’t have to leave. I’m just thinking.” Taking this as a cue — however small it was — to approach him, Allura  sits in a beanbag chair opposite Keith’s armchair by the window and looks up at him. Even from below, he looked uncommonly small in that moment. </p>
<p> “Is it rude to ask what you’re thinking about?” She asks, tilting her head toward him, and then averting her eyes out the window when she sees him start to face her. She waits several seconds before receiving a reply. </p>
<p> Keith sighs, dropping his forehead to rest on his knees, so his voice is muffled when he speaks, “No. I just…I really only talk about this with Shiro. It’s hard to explain, and I feel like I shouldn’t be as affected by it anymore, since it’s been such a long time, but. Some days, it just…” He trails off, but Allura waits for him to collect his thoughts. From the corner of her eye, she sees Keith lift his head and look out the window again. This time when he speaks she can hear the emotion in his voice. </p>
<p> “Some days I feel so <i> heavy </i> with it. And it comes out of nowhere and hits me, and then I’m caught in between: Oh God it hurts  <i> so bad </i>, and why does it  <i> still hurt </i>? Do you know what I mean?” Keith asks, and Allura thinks she might, but she isn’t sure, so she prompts him. </p>
<p> “I mean,” Keith swallows hard, and Allura sees him turn to face her, so she slowly turns her head to meet his gaze. “My parents are dead. Or—well, my dad is dead. I don’t know my mom, I don’t know where she is or why she left. I don’t even remember when she left us because I don’t remember her at all. But my dad died when I was nine. In a fire. And sometimes I can remember him and it doesn’t hurt at all. I have Shiro’s parents, so they fill a little of the hole he left, but. I don’t know how to explain it?” </p>
<p> During his speech, Keith’s eyes had drifted from hers and he had raised his hands to thread through the hair at the back of his head. Gently, Allura reaches up to him and pulls his wrists down to his lap. She smiles at him sorrowfully. “Keith, I know exactly what you mean. <i> Exactly </i>.” She stresses. He looks at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I am also an orphan. Have I never told you?” Keith shakes his head, and Allura lets out a breath of a laugh. “My mother passed away when I was young to an illness I still don’t understand. My father, well. It is still very painful for me to discuss. It was only four years ago, now. But I have the same days you’ve just described. I understand.” Allura didn’t let go of his hands as she shared her story, and at the end, she realized they both had tears on their cheeks. </p>
<p> They discussed their grief, in heart-wrenching detail. They hugged it out, they pretended the conversation didn’t happen — though over the next few weeks they grew unconsciously closer. And almost a month after that first conversation Allura found herself having one of those same days. It was a Saturday when Keith had decided to skip his morning workout with Shiro and lay around the lounge editing videos with Hunk, which is where Allura found him. </p>
<p> “Keith?” She asks, perching on the arm of his couch. When he looks up, she proceeds, “I’m thinking of filming a video about grief. I…” Her gaze flickers to the floor, then back up to his eyes, “I was hoping you would be willing to speak with me on it?” Keith analyzes Allura for a moment before responding. He can see a slight defeated slump in her shoulders, that her bun is a little more haphazard than usual, that her facial features are tightly composed, and she won’t quite meet his eye. He purses his lips and nods, offering her a supportive smile. Her relief is evident, and he closes his laptop to follow her from the lounge. </p>
<p> They both offer advice on how to deal with grief, they discuss how it feels to lose a loved one, and the processes they both went through — that they both still go through — to come to how they deal now. They both cry. After filming, they feel even closer. When Allura posts the video, it all but goes viral, and Keith channel gets a lot more traffic, which leads to people going over to Lance’s channel in order to get more casual Keith content. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. When I'm Alone, With You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pidge and Keith get closer</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Keith and Pidge bump into each other turning into the lounge one night, Pidge with her filming equipment, and Keith with his Nintendo Switch, getting ready to play the new Animal Crossing. They both stutter out apologies, and Keith follows Pidge into the room. She’s setting up, and turning on the console when she turns to Keith, who’s turned on his switch, but not his game. “Do you want to play with me today? It could be fun to do a collab.” She sees that he’s unsure, and rushes to say, “You don’t have to, but you’re always in Lance’s vlogs, and you did that collab with Allura that one time, it could be good for your channel to diversify where you appear.” Pidge gets that glint in her eye that Keith’s come to learn normally signifies danger, “Plus...it’ll be good for my channel to show all my followers that I can wipe the floor with you. I am a much better gamer after all.” She knows that’ll get him riled up, and he knows that she knows, but he can’t find it in himself to care. </p>
<p> “Oh, you’re <i> on </i>, Holt.” </p>
<p> Pidge sets up her stream, and her camera, and the two settle in to game. After her initial introduction, Pidge lets viewers pile in for a couple minutes, tweeting out that Keith (@knyfeboi) will be joining the stream, and the two acknowledge some of the people commenting. When they begin playing, their comments turn toward trash-talking the other, and making comments about the game. In between rounds, they chat a bit with the viewers, and explain to some people who don’t know the whole situation how they know each other. After a couple hours, they wrap up the stream, end Pidge’s recording for her second channel where she posts her streams after a week or so, and sit in silence as Keith picks up his switch, and Pidge looks over some footage. </p>
<p> “Hey, Pidge?” </p>
<p> “Hmmm?” </p>
<p> “Thanks for inviting me to stream with you today. I had a really good time. It’s nice spending time with you without other people, like we can just chill and be ourselves, and we don’t really have to talk about anything important, we can just exist. I like that I have someone I can do that with. I’m really glad we’re friends.” </p>
<p> Sometime during Keith’s speech, Pidge had looked away from her laptop to stare at him. She looked a little surprise, but there was also an emotion Keith couldn’t quite place. He sheepishly looked back at her, not quite bringing himself to meet her gaze. There was a light scoff, and then Pidge reached over and smacked him on the arm. </p>
<p> “Hey! What was that for?” </p>
<p> “That’s for getting sappy with me!” She huffed, crossing her arms and pouting, though a faint smile tugged at her lips. “But, for the record, I’m glad I can do that with you too. And I’m glad we’re friends. Whenever you want to join me for a stream, collab with me, or just hang out with someone without talking for hours on end, then I’m the pal for that.” They exchanged small smiles, and then looked back at their respective projects. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know this is really short, but I feel like their relationship is built on trust over a series of small moments rather than a couple big ones, and I wanted to hint at that here.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. I Won't Let Your Memory Haunt Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hunk wants a Keith sleepover</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Over summer break that year, Hunk invites Keith over to his moms’ house, since they only live about three hours from each other, and Keith can stay a couple days. For the first day, Hunk just shows Keith around his hometown, where Keith had been once or twice, but had never spent much time in. They met up with Lance for lunch, since he also lived nearby and “had been deprived of his rival” for three weeks already, a “unique form of torture.” Hanging out with Hunk, Keith has come to realize, is almost as easy as hanging out with Shiro. Keith feels safe, valued, and appreciated, and he tries to convey that back to Hunk as much as he can. He knows he’s not as good at creating that sort of environment, but Hunk has mentioned that he’s noticed it and appreciates the effort Keith goes to. Keith meets and learns about Hunks moms too, and loves them both almost immediately.</p>
<p> The second day, Hunk insists that Keith cook with him. “We don’t even have to film videos, I just think it will be fun!” And Keith can’t find it in himself to disagree. Hunk teaches him how to make an omelette, “The proper way, Keith, stop being a heathen!” and as they’re eating them, waiting for bread dough to rise, Keith comments on how nice it must be to have two moms, if they teach Hunk stuff like this. Hunks tries not to, but ends up laughing raucously while Keith looks at him in confusion.</p>
<p> “Aw, Man. I’m sorry, but that was hilarious. Eme and Mom have no clue how to cook. Most of my childhood my Grandpa lived with us and he would cook, that’s how I learned. Eme’s like Shiro — pretty much could burn water. Mom’s a bit better, but we’re still better off if I do the cooking. Except for Christmas cookies; Mom makes great snow-tea cakes and snickerdoodles. But did your parents never teach you how to cook?” Hunk doesn’t know a ton about Keith’s situation growing up, just that he and Shiro are brothers, that Keith had been adopted at fourteen. He gives Keith a moment to think. </p>
<p> “I never knew my birth mom. I don’t know anything about her. I had a picture when I was really, really young, but I just remember that she looked nice, no details. I must’ve lost it, or my dad hid it when I started asking questions. He never answered them. Maybe he meant to when I was older, and just...never got the chance.” Keith shrugs with a sigh. “Dad cooked for us every night when he was home. He was Korean, I think he said his grandparents, maybe, immigrated when his dad was in his teens. I don’t really remember. But he made dumplings a lot, and I remember not loving his kimchi. The only thing he taught me to make was sam gae tang, cause it’s really easy. </p>
<p> “I was nine when he died, so we didn’t really have a lot of time, and I’ve only practiced it a couple times since, because for a while it was really, really hard to think about him at all. I got to keep one picture of him through foster care, and when I finally ended up with Shiro’s parents — my parents — when I was twelve, I was really mad. At everyone. At the world. But one day, Haha—uh, Mom, asked me what my favorite summertime meal was, and I hadn’t really thought about it in a while, but I told her it was sam gae tang, thinking, well, she’s not really going to make it, she was just asking. But that night, Haha sat us down, and we all ate sam gae tang as a family. She and Chichi told me, that even though they could never give me my dad back, they could still be my family, and if I wanted, they could be my parents too. After that we made sam gae tang together a couple times. Shiro wanted to help out, but he’s always been terrible in the kitchen. Anyway...” Keith smiles a little and looks up at Hunk. “Dad only really taught me to make one thing, but Haha’s tried to make at least one of her sons ready to survive adulthood.” </p>
<p> Hunk sits through Keith’s story quietly, doing his best not to react, or reach out to his friend — not wanting to disrupt his flow of thought, or the blossoming happening in front of him. Keith had never opened up to him like this, and as sad as Keith’s story was, it had a happy and wholesome ending. “Do you want to make that for tonight? I’m sure Eme and Mom would love to have something that reminds you of your family.” Keith chuckles a little bit, but agrees, and the two young men set out to the store for their ingredients.</p>
<p>On their way back to Hunk’s house, Keith suggests they film a video for Hunk’s channel where they each make something that a family member passed on to them. As they film themselves making Keith’s dad’s sam gae tang and Hunk’s grandfather’s fancy banana pudding, they discuss the importance of cultural dishes, and how the making and eating of a childhood (or a parents’) favorite can connect you to your loved ones, as well as your past.</p>
<p> Keith left Hunk’s house the next day feeling like he’d really gotten to know his friend, and feeling like another part of himself, of his life, had been polished to a gleaming brilliance. He could really look back on his time with his dad with fondness, and now a happiness that was tinged with nostalgia instead of just grief.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My Aunt's Hawai'ian friend, and my Japanese friend told me what they call their parents, so if it's wrong or somehow offensive, let me know and I will change the names, but I'm just going off what I was told!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. All The Same Broken Parts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shiro opens up to Keith, and Keith helps him out; it's what brothers are for</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>That same summer, around July of 2020, Shiro knocks on Keith's door jamb in their parents’ house. “Keith?” Keith removes his headphones and looks up at the door, “Can I talk to you for a bit?” Shiro’s scrubbing his left hand across his neck, his prosthetic off for the night, and his sleep shirt cuffed over his right bicep. Keith can read the tension in his shoulders, the apprehension almost palpably rising off his brother in waves.  He nods and gestures Shiro in.</p>
<p> Shiro sits down cross legged next to Keith on his bed. Keith waits patiently; they are both well versed in letting the other collect his thoughts. “Keith, it’s been almost six years since…” Shiro trails off, but Keith knows he’s talking about the accident where he’d been seriously injured, and lost his arm. </p>
<p> “Since you started your YouTube channel.” He says, offering Shiro an out. Shiro smiles gratefully at him, though Keith can still see the tension around his mouth, and the tightness around his eyes. “What’s up, Kashi?” </p>
<p> “I’ve never shown my face on my channel.” He says. Keith waits, and Shiro continues. “But, I’ve been shown on your channel, on Allura’s, and Hunk’s, and Pidge’s, and on a lot of Lance’s vlogs now. That one video of your rivalry even sort of showcased my prosthetic.” Keith nods along, silently listening, “And, there haven’t even really been any negative comments, or anyone saying anything about the prosthetic, or my scar, or my white hair…” Shiro trails off. Keith thinks he knows where this is going, but he’s going to let Shiro say it on his own. “And I haven’t even really been nervous or afraid when it’s you guys posting the videos.” He looks at Keith, a little helplessly, “But I still haven’t shown my face on my own channel.” </p>
<p> Keith puts a hand on Shiro’s knee. “It’s a big step. Your channel has been your safe place, a safety net, since you started it. And you’re afraid that there would be some kind of backlash, or people would want to focus on your appearance instead of your content. That’s not crazy, Shiro. That’s a really understandable fear. It’s okay to feel that way, and it’s okay if you never want to show your face on your channel. There are plenty of people who do that.” </p>
<p> Shiro sighs and rubs over his eyes. He lays back on Keith’s bed. “I know, but there’s one part of me that’s more afraid that someone is going to put it together by watching the rest of your all’s videos and reveal me to my audience without me having any control over it, and people might be mad or something...and there’s another part of me that is kind of ready. I think I might be ready for people to see me. It explains more of my place in the Voltron group, rather than just living with you all. It gives me more of a platform to talk about disability, or astrophysics stuff, or whatever…” Shiro trails off, but looks up to read Keith’s face. He’s smiling a little bit back at him, and he pats Shiro on the knee.</p>
<p> “Well, if you’re ready, then let’s pick a movie and script a reveal.” </p>
<p> Shiro still looks unsure. “Would you, maybe, consider being in the video with me?” He asks, Keith grins back at him. </p>
<p> “What are brothers for?” Keith replies.</p>
<p> They write a script for the reveal, though Shiro’s sure he’ll deviate from it he’s still glad to have something to look back at if he needs the extra support. Keith will be behind the camera for that part, but through the movie reaction, he’ll be in frame. A couple days later, and they’re all set. They’ll be reacting to <i> The Theory of Everything </i> the movie about Stephen Hawking. Shiro’s seen the movie before, so he’s already written up his points, and they’ll be doing a live reaction, while pausing for discussion and comments. This way if Shiro still wants to post it, but feels like he’d back out if he edited, he can just post without the extra step and not feel too guilty about anything except the extra long video. And with the surprise, he can only hope his followers won’t be disappointed; that they’ll still be followers after seeing him for the first time.</p>
<p> After getting the camera set up, Shiro’s sitting at his desk, holding his script in his left hand, and Keith is counting down, “3, 2, 1…” And points at Shiro to begin. Shiro smiles at the camera and clears his throat. “Hi, everybody. Welcome back to What Not To Watch. I’m trying something a little different today. I’ve run this channel for about six years now, and even though I’ve posted close to every week, I’ve never shown my face. Well, here I am. My name is Shiro. I’m 24, and I’ve just graduated from university with a BS in astrophysics. I know that might sound weird for a person with a movie reviews YouTube channel, but movies got me through a really hard time in my life. Back when I started the channel, I had just been in an accident that caused me to lose my right arm.”</p>
<p> Shiro waves his prosthetic hand at the camera, “I won’t answer any questions about the nature of my accident, so please don’t ask any. But my brother, Keith, and I watched a lot of movies throughout my recovery. He was only 15, and a lot more confident in my abilities than I was, and said that I should start a YouTube channel. The rest is, kind of, history. This past year I’ve had the pleasure to live with a few other YouTubers, though that was entirely an accident. And being in videos with them gave me a lot of confidence I’ve been trying to rebuild for years, now. Confidence, and trust in my viewers. I was afraid of how people might react to seeing that I had a prosthetic. But I’m not anymore, I haven’t gotten any negative comments on their videos, and I trust my own viewers enough to not care about the fact that I’m missing a natural arm. You’re all here for the movie reviews, right?</p>
<p> Shiro and Keith, behind the camera, both chuckle. “So with my formal introduction out of the way, I’ll move on to that part of the video. Today, Keith and I are going to be filming our reactions to <i> The Theory of Everything </i> which came out in 2014, and which both of us have already seen, so this should be interesting. Without further ado,” Keith came into frame, and they started the film. Shiro would set up the screen so it showed the cam of him and Keith as well as the scenes they were watching. </p>
<p> When he posted the video, Shiro tagged all of team Voltron in the description, including Coran. He received overwhelming support from not only his own followers, but his friends’ followers as well. Keith was so proud of his brother, of how far he’d come and how much he’d grown. And he was so grateful that he had such amazing friends, even if it had taken a rivalry for one of those friendships to flourish.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>After yet another inadvertent break (because I got sucked into the ATLA fandom), I am back! This part, and maybe a second part of the Adashi fic I posted a few weeks ago coming soon. I hope you all enjoyed this.</p><p> As always, I am white and not a trans man, so if there is anything in here that is offensive, wrong, or could just be done better, please let me know in a respectful way, and I will fix it! Also, if anyone has any ideas or things they want to see, please comment or message me on twitter or tumblr and I will try to incorporate it! I'm really just playing around in this AU and while I have a direction for the story, I feel like there's always more room for growth.</p><p> My twitter is @threference, and my tumblr is @thehufflepuffreference. Please feel free to message me on either one. </p><p> Keep rocking on, starshines,</p><p>THR</p></blockquote></div></div>
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